Migrations: Open Hearts, Open Borders

From all over the world, picture book illustrators sent original images and personal messages, in postcard form, for Migrations, an exhibition at the Biennial of Illustration, Bratislava, in 2017, curated by the University of Worcester’s International Centre for the Picture Book in Society. Over fifty of the cards are reproduced in this very special book.

The book is divided into themes of Departures, Long Journeys, Arrivals and Hope for the Future.

The facsimile postcard text includes personal messages of hope from the illustrators, as well as quotes from writers including Emily Dickinson, WB Yeats, John Clare, and Anita Desai. Robert Macfarlane has written a poem specially for the postcard drawn by Jackie Morris.

Illustrators include Christopher Corr, Marie-Louise Gay, Piet Grobler, Petr Horacek, Isol, Jon Klassen, Neal Layton, PJ Lynch, Roger Mello, Jackie Morris, Jane Ray, Chris Riddell, Axel Scheffler and Shaun Tan. In total, illustrators from 28 countries have contributed.

Migrations carries a powerful message about human migration, showing how cultures, ideas and aspirations flow despite borders, barriers and bans.